Friday Favorites
Chicken Lettuce Cups, The Better Sister, a new Taylor Jenkins Reid book and a kitchen essentials reboot! Plus, outfits for senior photos and my summer Substack sale.
Welcome to Friday Favorites! Buckle up because this one’s a little long. This glimpse of my week is for all subscribers (free and paid). I include a fan-favorite recipe, something I’m watching, reading, or listening to, a recent find, and a weekly bit of gratitude.
What I’m Cooking
I’ve been working on new summer recipes for Substack and video content for Instagram. I send new recipes on Tuesdays (and also in this freebie Friday post), so get excited. I also have a post ready to share that explains how Substack works and how to get the most out of it. Substack isn’t just an email that gets sent to your inbox; there’s a whole website of my content you can peruse and an app for easily accessing recipes, posts and travel guides on your phone. I find the app easier to navigate than searching an email inbox for old posts, which some of you have told me you do. There’s a Recipe Index with all the recipes I’ve shared so far, a Travel Index, and top-level navigation where you can click through Friday Favorites, Tips, Knife Skills, and more.
On to what I’ve been cooking this week! Last night we had the Chicken Lettuce Cups that I learned to make in cooking school about 25 years ago. I no longer make the accompanying sauce; it’s plenty flavorful without it. Last night we had these with a side of steamed broccoli and avocado slices, and topped off our lettuce cups with cilantro leaves and chili crisp. Two of my three kids were home and we talked about how this has been one of our favorite family dinners for as long as we can remember. I used ground chicken breast to keep the finished product lean, but you can also use ground thigh meat or ground pork. In cooking school, our professor for Asian cuisine was a former chef in a Hong Kong hotel, and this was a recipe she brought from her hotel days. I remember standing at the back station of our school trying to piece apart multiple heads of Iceberg lettuce without tearing the leaves. She’d make us trim them into perfect circles with kitchen shears, but now I sometimes use butter lettuce, which is easier to pull apart. Be ready to eat them as soon as you add the filling because the heat and liquid will quickly wilt the greens. You might go through a whole head of Iceberg to get a few perfect lettuce cups, but the cold, crisp crunch of Iceberg can’t be beat.
You can find all the SITK recipes I’ve shared on Substack in my Recipe Index.
What I’m Watching and Reading
I binged The Better Sister and it was so well done. And I loved the interiors in both the New York apartment and the Hamptons homes, which was a bonus. It was one of those stories that unravels bit by bit, so it was impossible to stop watching. There were a couple of nights this week where I was up way past midnight, cozied up and watching episodes.
I also have the new Taylor Jenkins Reid fired up on my Kindle for this coming weekend. I had pre-ordered it a while back and I was so excited to see it pop up in my library this week. I also just finished It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan. If you need a book to distract you on a transatlantic flight or you’re headed to a beach or lake, queue this one up.
What’s In My Cart
I did a minor Kitchen Essentials reboot this week—I had some items that needed replacing, like an inexpensive fine-mesh sieve that had become stabby around the edges from wires coming loose. I replaced it with a couple of Zwilling colanders that have small openings so you can use them for grains and orzo. I also loaded up on rectangular measuring spoons because we need multiples of these for cooking class recipe stations. And I’m trying out a couple of different types of composite wood cutting boards, this one and this one, to see what I think. They still feel a little hard on my knives and I might be a wood cutting board girl forever. I just like the texture and feeling of a real wood board. They will last infinitely longer if you get in the habit of washing them right away with hot, soapy water and drying them standing up on their thinnest edge so they don’t warp.
Moving from the kitchen to my closet, I fell for these painter’s pocket cream jeans from Frame and I consider this striped knit top a work expense since you’ll probably see it in Instagram photos and videos very soon. I’m getting organized for a June food trip to Madrid with Scheck Eats and trying to save my euros to spend on a pair of espadrilles while I’m there. I updated my carry-on packing list for Europe if you want to check it out.
Last but not least, we also have a summer sale that I’ll start spamming about soon, but you heard it here first: 30% off subscriptions to my Substack. Be sure to scoop one up and you’ll soon get my Salted Chocolate Sheet Cake, Caribbean Dreaming travel post, thoughts on my trip to Stockholm and Copenhagen last summer, my Madrid research and recap, and all the summer recipes.
I’m in the process of ordering outfits for my youngest’s senior photos, which will all probably get shot down in favor of something completely different. Top contenders (from me) are this dress from Hunter Bell or this one or this from Loeffler Randall. I just don’t know how white will look in photos, but it’s so pretty and fresh. This from Reformation might be more her speed!
This Week’s Win
I’m headed to San Francisco and Napa to spend time with our oldest “couple friends.” These are long-time friends whom we’ve known since living in San Francisco in our 20s, three decades ago. I can’t wait for a weekend of laughter, with a side of crisp white wine, Bouchon bread and a massage!
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GIFT CARD
Looking for a birthday or “just because” gift for your best friend, mom, sister, or aunt Sally? I have the perfect idea! You can gift a subscription to my Substack! The annual subscription can begin at any time.
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Hi Marcia~ Can you recommend a good non-alcoholic white wine?